


Opposites Attract

by BuddysImpala



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: B.T., Cat Person, Cats, Cute, Dogs, Dogs are clearly superior but shhhh, Ellie - Freeform, Fluff, Inspired by the animals created by the Tumblr RPs!, M/M, Opposites Attract, Thanks Phil!, Thanks Phin!, barlyle - Freeform, dog person, literally just nothing but fluffy cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 17:32:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17207831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddysImpala/pseuds/BuddysImpala
Summary: Phineas is a dog person.Phillip is a cat person.or:Phineas leaves Phillip alone with the animals for an evening.





	Opposites Attract

**Author's Note:**

> The two lovely animals in this little oneshot, Ellie and B.T., are creations of the askbarnum and askcarlyle RP blogs on Tumblr — I just borrowed them for this cutesy little oneshot.
> 
> Phin, Phil, this one’s for you~

This was absolutely, positively _not_ the way Phillip planned on spending his evening.

Phineas promised to be gone only an hour. Ninety minutes at most.

He was nearing on three hours gone and there was still no sign of the lying, deceiving basta—

“ _Oof_ ,” Phillip groaned.

Ellie whined, tongue hanging out of her mouth and tail wagging furiously as she heaved her front half up into Phillip’s lap. She licked Phillip’s face, and he scowled as he wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. He stared straight into the dog’s brown eyes.

Sighing, he scratched behind the wolfhound’s ears, glancing at their much _quieter_ pet out of the corner of his eye.

B.T. — who, despite the name resemblance, was more Phillip’s (somewhat overweight) cat than he was P.T.’s — stared at him from the corner of the couch.

“You’re the good one,” Phillip spoke.

B.T. blinked slowly.

The cat was too far away to pet without movement and Ellie was still practically crawling her way into Phillip’s lap. He sighed as he looked at her.

“Do you need to go out? Is that it?”

Ellie’s eyes seemed to light up, and she barked once as she hopped out of Phillip’s lap and scrambled for the door. B.T. stood from the couch, stretched, and hopped down, no doubt in pursuit of treats.

“I don’t appreciate being used,” Phillip told B.T. But he caved, as always, and fed the cat a treat, smiling as the animal purred against his hand.

After Ellie came inside and begged for a treat, Phillip glanced at the clock and went back to his position on the couch. This wasn’t the first time Phineas came home later than promised, but it still annoyed him — Phineas knew how much he didn’t like looking after the animals alone.

B.T. was easy — what cat wasn’t? But Ellie was enough to wear anyone out.

Except Phineas, apparently. But, then again, he always did seem to have the energy levels of an over-caffeinated toddler. He and Ellie were perfect for each other.

At that moment, Phillip’s attention was pulled to the front door as it was unlocked and opened.

Speak of the devil—

“Honey, I’m home!” Phineas called gleefully, laughing when he saw the dark scowl on Phillip’s face. Before they could properly greet each other, Ellie ran to her master, nails scraping along the wooded floor. She whined until Phineas knelt down and pet her, practically enveloping the big dog in a hug.

“Where were you?” Phillip asked.

“Awe,” Phineas cooed as he stood up, dog hair now clinging to his clothes, “is that all I get? Not even a hello hug or kiss?”

Phillip wrinkled his nose as he looked Phineas over. “Well, now you’re all covered in dog hair.”

Phineas laughed again. “You should look in the mirror, darling.”

“Where were you?”

Phineas’s eyes twinkled.

Oh, God.

Phineas smiled as he crossed the room and sat on the couch. Almost immediately, Ellie hopped up— taking up the vast majority of the couch — and rested her head in his lap.

“Phin, you know I don’t like—“

“Awe, come on. B.T. can climb any furniture he wishes, but sweet Ellie can’t even keep me company on the couch? You won’t.” The corners of his lips dropped down into an over-exaggerated pout as he scratched Ellie’s back.

Phillip opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out. Phineas was right, and he hated it. Frowning, he sat beside Phineas on the couch.

Phineas smiled. “That’s more like it.”

He draped his arm around Phillip and drew him in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. Ellie, who now laid content in Phineas’s lap, didn’t budge. B.T. kept to himself in the corner.

When they pulled away, Phillip asked, “Now can you tell me where you were?”

That twinkle returned to Phineas’s eyes. “Well, at first I was just running errands as I told you...”

Oh, no. “Phineas... what did you _do_?”

“Well, wouldn’t you know it, on my way home in the carriage, I found a furry little creature howling in the street. Looked like a Dalmatian, most likely. Poor little thing couldn’t have been more than a year or two old and it’d gotten its paw stuck—“

“Did you help it?” Despite the fact that Phillip was definitely more of a cat person, he couldn’t stand the thought of any sort of animal stuck or hurt.

“Well, of course I did. It was wary at first, as any domestic pet would be of a stranger, but luckily I’d just gotten some more treats for Ellie here—“

The dog’s ears perked up at the sound of her name. Phineas smiled as he scratched an ear.

“—and it didn’t take long for the dog to start sniffing my hand for more. Thankfully, it was fairly easy to free it.”

Phillip nodded along to Phineas’s story, relieved that he’d managed to rescue the dog, when an alarming thought crossed his mind.

Warily, he asked, “Phin, you — you didn’t bring it home, did you?”

“...Maybe,” the older man grinned.

“Phineas!”

The ringmaster chuckled and pulled Phillip closer, kissing his forehead. “No, no, I didn’t bring him home. But, that is why I took so long coming back. The dog had his tags — its name was Scout — but I had no sort of home address information. I didn’t want to take the poor thing to the shelter so,” Phineas shrugged, “I went around door to door until I could find its owners.”

“You didn’t.”

“In my defense, it wasn’t much different than finding my circus acts,” Phineas grinned. “The family he belonged to had a little boy and girl, about seven and four. Scout recognized them immediately and boy, were they happy. He managed to get himself a long way from home.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Phillip sighed and rested his head against Phineas’s shoulder, “but... I’m glad you did it. The family must have been worried sick.”

Phineas hummed in agreement, running his fingers through Phillip’s hair. “So, am I forgiven for being late?”

“I suppose.” Phillip’s eyes were closed as he completely relaxed against Phineas.

“Fantastic,” Phillip could feel the deep rumble of Phineas’s laughter through his chest, “because... we’ve still got groceries from the market to bring in.”

Phillip’s eyes snapped open. He whined before he could stop himself, and his cheeks immediately reddened.

“Oh, come now,” Phineas teased, “with the two of us going, it won’t take too long.”

“But I just got comfortable!” Phillip protested. 

“Well then, it’s your fault if the bread goes bad in the elements.”

Scowling, Phillip huffed as he got up. Phineas chuckled as he stood — disturbing Ellie, who leaped off the couch — and took Phillip’s hand. B.T. followed, too, hopeful — once again — for treats.

“Perhaps Big Top needs to go on a diet,” Phineas pondered as they walked outside.

“He is a perfectly normal weight for his age and breed,” Phillip said defensively.

“Oh? So, you haven’t been sneaking him extra treats?”

Phillip said nothing. Phineas snickered.

Once they finished bringing in and sorting through the groceries — a task that Phillip seemed to take much more seriously than Phineas — Phillip lounged on the couch once more and pulled Phineas down with him.

“It’s getting late, darling. We have an early show tomorrow. Perhaps we should consider retiring a bit early this evening?”

“I don’t think so,” Phillip muttered.

“Hmm?”

“You just came home,” Phillip scooted closer to Phineas. He tried to be discreet about his craving affection, but failed miserably.

Phineas smiled and pulled Phillip closer. “Needy little thing, are you?”

Phillip didn’t even try to protest.

“You’re worse than Ellie,” Phineas teased.

At the sound of her name, Ellie’s ears perked up. She bounded straight for the couch and—

—climbed right into Phillip’s lap.

“Hey!”

She licked his hand twice before settling down, much to Phineas’s amusement. He laughed and laughed as Phillip glowered at him.

“Remind me why you insisted on getting such a big dog?”

“So I could name her Ellie,” Phineas grinned, “short for elephant.”

Phillip groaned. Loudly.

“You have an obsession.”

“Next time, I’ll just bring home a literal baby elephant.”

“I swear—“

Their antics were interrupted by a soft _meow_ from by their feet. They both looked down to see B.T. curling himself around Phineas’s ankles before jumping up into the ringmaster’s lap, his nails lightly digging into Phineas’s thighs.

This time, it was Phillip who laughed. Then, he proceeded to choke on the dog hair as it got into his mouth.

“I think our animals are having an identity crisis,” Phineas pondered.

“B.T.’s just defending his honor after you called him fat.”

Phineas grinned. Phillip was about to say something else when he noticed the look in Phineas’s eyes.

Love. So much love.

His smile softened and he ducked his head, glancing down at Ellie in his lap.

“I guess she’s not so bad. Even if she _is_ crushing my thighs.”

Phineas hummed as he stroked B.T.’s fur. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. Phillip knew he was quite smitten with the cat, too.

“Hey, Phillip?”

“Hmmm.”

“I love you.”

Phillip’s face was immediately aflame with color.

“I love you, too.”

Phineas smiled and leaned in to kiss the tip of Phillip’s nose. When he pulled away, his eyes twinkled.

“So, about getting an elephant—“


End file.
